07 May How to format your responses sheet for Google Forms

How to format your responses sheet for Google Forms: Ever been in a situation where you’ve made so many changes to a Google Form – that your responses sheet makes no sense anymore? Here we tell you how to edit your responses so they format in the same order as your Google Form. 

Google Forms is a great tool for creating surveys, and the fact it automatically adds all results into Google Sheets makes it so easy to use. What you may find though, is if you make any changes to the Form, the responses Sheet won’t update – the original order from when the Form was initially created will be upheld within the Sheet. For example, we’ve recently been putting together a recruitment form for a position we’re recruiting for, and have made so many changes to the form that the responses sheet now doesn’t display information in the order we’d like to see it in.

Follow this shortcut so that you can make sure your responses sheet is always as up to date as your Google Form.

To get started, open up your Google Form, and visit Responses on the menu bar. Scroll down to Change response destination… and select.

You have two options; 1. you can create a new Google Sheet with the responses in the correct order or 2. you can add an additional tab to the existing responses Sheet – ideal if you have already shared the document but just want to up date it.

If you opt for option 1 to create a new spreadsheet, you have the option to edit the title, then simply click Create. After this, it would make sense to delete the old responses sheet, so that you do not get confused between the two. No data will be lost, as it will all be added into the new sheet.

If you opt for option 2, select the New sheet in an existing spreadsheet… option, and click Choose.

Select the sheet you want to add an additional tab to. This will have the same title as your form and will be followed by (Responses).

Once you have selected the appropriate Google Sheet, click Select. You will now see an additional tab at the bottom of your responses Sheet, which will contain the updated order of responses. You can then delete the previous tab, if this is no longer relevant, as the data will be replicated across the two tabs.

We hope you found this tip useful! For more weekly tips and tricks, visit our Google Apps Tips blog.